


One Rule

by moonyandthestar



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Full Moon, Get Together, M/M, Marauders, Marauders era, but it’s Cute, sirius gets injured i’m sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-28 06:49:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17177963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonyandthestar/pseuds/moonyandthestar
Summary: Remus has one rule, and Sirius unintentionally breaks it.





	One Rule

     Remus Lupin had one rule for the nights of the full moon—even though he’d tried and failed to enforce others—and one rule only: none of the three delinquents he called friends were to get hurt. There had been close calls, of course; the stray scratch, and a bruise here and there weren’t uncommon. However, whenever any of them came close to getting hurt, they put an end to it immediately. Thus far, a year after becoming Animagi, the other three Marauders had followed the rule religiously, and Remus was eternally grateful.

 

    However, on the first full moon back at school in their sixth year, Sirius Black broke this rule, when all he was trying to do was repair everything else in his life.

 

—————————————————————

 

     It was the first full moon Sirius had attended since The Incident that spring. Though it seemed unlikely for a while, Sirius had finally managed to regain Remus’ trust. It had taken many, many apologies and many, many promises and many, many nights of sleeping on the common room couch, but Sirius and Remus had made amends and were once again on good terms. This time was different, much unlike their relationship before. Now, what with rebuilt attachments and newfound sensitivity, Sirius and Remus’ camaraderie was painted with softer undertones. 

     It had always been James and Sirius, brothers until the end and closer than all hell—they were a package deal, and everyone and their mother knew that you didn’t get one without the other. Where James and Sirius were brothers, however, Sirius and Remus were best friends. They told each other anything and everything, especially emotional and painful things that they mutually knew James could never understand, try as he might. Sirius would often seek Remus out when in need of comfort, and it shocked no one to see Sirius hovering nearby when Remus was studying in the common room, or vice versa. The fact that Sirius had broken this easy, simple, symbiotic relationship now left them learning a new dance, the understanding that Sirius had risked everything Remus was and everything he had playing softly yet permanently in the background of every situation.

 

     The day of the moon, Sirius had been tiptoeing around Remus, uncharacteristically nervous and sheepish as he typically would not have been. They relaxed in an amicable silence, sitting near one another in the common room and next to each other at meals, but the apprehension was apparent to the trained eye. Remus was tired, he was  _so_ tired, and quite frankly he was afraid for the evening to come. He knew that he still held pent up anger about what Sirius had done, and he wasn’t too sure how Moony would react to mucking about with Padfoot again. The wolf was obviously more animalistic, therefore making him so much more atoned to Remus’ aggressive side. There had been incidents, in the past, where Remus was angry or frustrated or stressed and it came out in the actions of Moony, typically pouncing on Prongs or Padfoot more painfully than he was usually probe. Thus, Remus was tired, he was worried, and he was afraid.

     Sirius, well. Sirius was all of these things and more, but for different reasons. He was tired because he kept himself up at night worrying, and stressing, and thinking through his emotions again and again until his brain turned to putty. Sirius was worried and afraid, too. He was apprehensive and fearful to attend that night’s moon—much less reconnect with Remus—because he really didn’t want to fuck things up all over again. He was a wreck; he was a bastard, a mess, and quite the conniving arsehole when it came down to it, but frequently,  _he couldn’t help it._ It was in his blood. Being raised a Black, it wasn’t part of who he was to naturally care about other people’s feelings. He never quite  _meant_ to hurt people the way he did. It just happened, and he hated himself a thousand times over for it. On top of it all, as if he weren’t enough of an outcast already, he sodding  _fancied_ Remus. And sod him too, because that was another thing he couldn’t quite help when Remus just...well,  _existed._ Sirius thought anyone was right well blind if they didn’t see Remus’ beauty; now, Remus certainly wasn’t the most attractive man he’d ever seen, but he was kind, and smart, and caring, and damn it all if the boy didn’t know how to love. It wasn’t James who told Sirius who his family truly were—no, it was on a late night in winter when Remus had crept into Sirius’ bed and heard him crying over some sort of letter he’d received some sort of letter from his mother that he’d told him.  _Padfoot,_ he’d began, voice soft and tender and safe as ever.  _Sod them. You haven’t been a Black since you left her house, those invitations she sends be damned. I can’t imagine how hard it must’ve been for you to live in a house without love for fifteen years, but nevermind that. You’re here, at Hogwarts, in_ Gryffindor  _with me and James and Pete, and we love you, Padfoot. Don’t ever let yourself think that you’re not loved again, because that’s just not true._

Indeed, Remus had the most attractive love Sirius had ever known. He was kidding himself if he said it was just a crush, or a thing that would pass. Truthfully, Sirius was terrified of falling in love, and he knew that if he wasn’t careful that that was exactly what would happen. What was worse, is that he couldn’t act on it. For one, he was almost positive that Remus didn’t swing that way, even if there had been questionable circumstances that Sirius chose to ignore. Additionally, he really couldn’t risk messing things up again. He’d just have to deal with it, for he cared too much about Remus to ruin his life for the umpteenth time.

     “Padfoot,” Remus called softly, breaking Sirius out of his head and back to the real world. “I want to warn you...I don’t know how Moony is going to react to Padfoot, so please, just be careful.” They were in the Shack—a dingy little place beneath the Whomping Willow that had been planted their first year—waiting on James and Peter to arrive from the detention they were serving.

     “I know, Moony,” Sirius replied, lifting his head from where he was intently staring at the ground to look up at his friend. “We’ll be careful, and you know Prongs won’t let anything happen, and I know full well you can kick my arse to the moon if I break your rule.”

     This, thankfully, made Remus breathe out a weak laugh and shake his head. “You’re a moron,” said the werewolf. “I’ve missed you.”

     “You know what? I believe I’ve missed you too.”

 

—————————————————————

     “Sorry! We’re here!” came James’ shout minutes before the moon was due to rise. “I swear, McGonagall is on her time of the month or something, she hardly let us go on time, and she very nearly gave us another hour just because she wanted to.” Peter was already in his rat form, nervous as ever. 

     “It’s about time,” Sirius scoffed sardonically just as Remus rolled his eyes and muttered, “you probably deserved it.” 

     Sirius shared a curt glance with James, who looked at him as if to say,  _everything alright between the two of you?_ Sirius gave a simple nod in return, and looked back to Remus. “Best of luck, Moony,” he wished, “we’ll turn now.” And turn they did, almost too late, as Remus threw his head back and screamed at the top of his lungs just as a dog and a stag appeared where James and Sirius had just been.

 

——————————————————————

     

     When Sirius awoke, all he knew was pain. His back, his head, everywhere—it hurt. Of course, he was probably being dramatic, but. It was a really rough night for more than just Remus.

     “Thank fuck, mate,” James breathed out, whom Sirius hadn’t realized was sitting at his side until now. “You’re awake, didn’t know how long it would be until you were. Don’t think Remus is awake yet, but Lily’s with him, and so is Peter, so I can ask later.”

     Sirius blinked his eyes a few times and gathered his surroundings, processing that he was in his own closed off room in the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey vaguely knew they were Animagi, but said nothing of it’s legality because it helped Remus immensely, for whom she had a soft spot. “The fuck happened?” Sirius asked rather unintelligently. His voice was raspy, and it hurt his throat to speak; Pomfrey hadn’t medicated him yet because he had been asleep. 

     James looked reluctant to say anything, but Sirius glared at him—which was probably why nobody else wanted to tend to him; Sirius could be a right fright—until James sighed and looked at him almost pitifully. “Padfoot, it was—it was bad,” the bespectacled boy claimed, avoiding the injured one’s eyes. “Moony, he...he went  _feral,_ mate. I guess he wasn’t wrong about all of that pent-up-anger bollocks he was talking.”

     “How do you mean, feral?” Sirius began gently, though he fully understood what had happened now and was mortified for Remus’ sake. If Remus knew...oh, Remus was going to be  _livid._ The rule was broken, oh Merlin, the rule was broken and Remus was going to kill him and hate himself...

     “Sirius, I—“ James pouted before Sirius leveled him with another glare. “Christ, fine, put the daggers away. It was like, he didn’t really mean to hurt you, but Moony saw you as Padfoot and he—and he just  _pounced,_ I’ve never seen him do that before. And you had it out, but it was awful—he can be a lot stronger than us when he really wants to be, and I couldn’t stop him—and he just—he just threw you against the wall of the Shack, and you whinged, but he kept hurting you, and...well you got knocked out, and finally I calmed him down, but then he tore himself up, and. Well. You know how it goes from there.”

     Sirius looked absolutely mortified. On a typical night, Moony would calm down and turn playful, wrestling with Padfoot but never so as to hurt him. Sirius personally believed it was canine instinct—didn’t want to let himself believe anything otherwise—but Moony always tended to show more interest in Padfoot. Prongs was there to break it up, really, but Padfoot and Moony would wrestle and play until the moon went down, and then Remus would wake up with Padfoot cuddled into his side. It was beyond strange and scary to hear that Moony had reacted this way, and Sirius felt awful. None of it would have been this way if he hadn’t been an idiot and an arsehole in the first place, and now he’d gone and fucked everything up all over again.

     On mornings after the moon, Sirius was always sat at Remus’ bedside, waiting for him to wake up so he could give him the potions Madam Pomfrey insisted that Remus take. Sometimes, on better nights, James and Peter wouldn’t join him, but Sirius was always there without fail. Now, it was the worst time not to be. “Well get me potions then!” Sirius demanded, feeling an outburst coming on. “Get me fixed! Get me healed! Let me see Moony, I need to see Moony, I need to be sure he’s alright, fuck—“

     “Woah, woah, slow down a second,” said James, pressing his hand firmly into Sirius’ shoulder to bring him back into reality. “You can’t see Moony right now, you’re injured yourself, and he’s fine, he’s in Pomfrey’s hands. I can go get her so you can take the potions you need to and get salves for all of your bruises, but you can’t get up just yet. Moony will still be there when you can, believe me, he’s okay.”

     Sirius didn’t much like this answer, but he rolled his eyes and accepted it anyways.

 

——————————————————————

 

     Sirius was going to go  _insane._ He’d taken the stupid bloody potions, he’d put on the stupid bloody bruise salves, hell, he even slept for an hour or so, but still he was not allowed to get out of the damned bed. James only left momentarily to collect news on Remus—he was still sleeping, but he only had a few broken bones; he’d suffered worse—but really he was Sirius’ only visitor. Which was fair, because Sirius acknowledged even he would be afraid of himself when in an angry state such as he was. Lily popped in, grimaced, and wished Sirius well before heading off to classes, and Peter had done much the same. 

     “Prongs,” Sirius said, though it came out like more of a growl. “No one is with Moony, he’s unattended, he needs someone to be with him when he wakes up,  _James.“_

     James, however, was barely listening; he was spinning around on the chair he had transfigured, eating chocolate that he had brought for Remus and Sirius. “Sirius, mate, I love you, but you’re being a tit. Calm down. Why are your knickers in such a twist? You know he’s going to be alright, I think he’ll survive one moon without you draping yourself all over him.” He gave Sirius a knowing look, and Sirius melted under it. 

     “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said through gritted teeth. He was not about to talk about his feelings for Remus—he’d done just fine ignoring them thus far, and just because James had apparently picked up on them didn’t mean he needed to start talking about them now.

     “Sure I do,” James replied simply.

     “No you don’t.”

     “Yes, I do.”

     “Stop it!”

     “You are  _mooning_ for  _Moony!”_ exclaimed James. “And don’t deny it, I can see you staring at the back of his pretty little head like it’s the most interesting thing you’ve ever seen. Sure, I had a bit of a freak out when I first figured it out, but Lily talked me down and told me to get my head out of my arse because you’re the same bloke you were before. Brilliant bird, she is.”

     Sirius looked at James, rather resembling a fish out of water. “Prongs, really, slow down for a second!” he whined, knowing how long James’ Lily-tangents could go on. “Am I really that obvious?”

     “Sirius,” deadpanned James, lolling his head to the side to look at Sirius for dramatic effect. “The only time I have ever seen you be careful is with Moony. And you’re never careful about anything. Only Moony.”

      Sighing, Sirius resigned to the fact that yes, he was in love with Remus Lupin, and yes, James Potter was going to make him Talk About It. “You can’t tell him,” Sirius insisted. “You can’t, you just. You can’t. I don’t need to be more of a burden on him than I already am, and I don’t even know if he swings that way, and he deserves better than me at any rate.”

      “Are you—are you hearing yourself?” James asked incredulously. “Who knew Sirius ‘King of the World’ Black could be humble?” he teased further. 

     “James.”

     “Okay, okay, sorry. I won’t tell him. I’m just trying to say that maybe you’re a tad oblivious, and I’m going to leave it at that. I’m gonna go check on Moony.” With that, James got up and left the room, and Sirius had his feelings more confused than ever, and damn, did his head hurt.

 

——————————————————————

 

     Finally, fucking  _finally,_ Sirius was allowed to get out of the damned prison that was so crudely disguised as a hospital room. He still had to take potions for the next day or so—it was the next day, and he’d been forced to sleep in the bloody hospital wing. He hated it. 

     “You need to take this one twice a day—Mr. Potter, I trust you to make him do so—“

     “Yes, Madam Pomfrey, I understand, now would you please let me in to see Remus?” Sirius requested impatiently, itching to get out of the bloody confinement. 

     “Well, alright then. Be  _gentle,_ if that’s something you know how to do.”

     With a hurried ‘yes ma’am,’ Sirius was out the door with James on his tail. “I’m gonna go to class, actually, give you two sone time,” decided James with a wink before he could turn the opposite way. “Give Moony my best.”

     Sirius rolled his eyes as James went out the main entrance, muttering something about outcomes and funerals and Remus under his breath before he was brave enough to open Remus’ door. When at last he finally entered the room, Remus blinked up at him with a weak smile, and he was a goner. 

     “Padfoot, hi,” Remus said quietly, turning his head to face Sirius as he sat down next to his bed. “How are you feeling?”

     “Wotcher, Moony,” Sirius smiled gently, clamping his hands on the armrests of his chair to resist the urge to wipe stray curls off of Remus’ forehead. “I’m all patched up, don’t worry about me. No silly bookish werewolves can get rid of the great Sirius Black that easy.” (He hadn’t realized how desperately he missed this easy humor with Remus until now. He truly was different in regards of tall, bookish boys with curly brown hair and over large sweaters, wasn’t he?)

     Frowning at Sirius’ response, a million emotions flitted through Remus’ eyes like flipping through channels on the telly. It played sadness, then anger, and settled on concern. “Sirius...” Remus said blankly, looking into Sirius’ eyes as if searching for something in particular. “I warned you. I asked one thing of you.” Before Sirius could cut in with a string of excuses and apologies, Remus continued on. “I don’t blame you, okay? I hate myself for hurting you, I never meant to hurt you—“

     “Remus,” cut in the calm voice of Sirius. He failed his resolve, reaching up to lightly brush Remus’ hair out of his face, a phantom touch gliding across his forehead. “You’re rambling. It’s okay, I’m okay, I barely got hurt. See?”—he shook his head like a dog shaking off water, then grinned madly down at Remus—“I’m fine, good as new. The world of punks and rock and roll still isn’t safe from me.”

     Remus rolled his eyes, yet grinned. Sirius didn’t know what to make of it, but he knew just how to bring Remus back into a good mood. James called it his ‘Moony-magic’. “You’re daft,” was all Remus replied at first. Then, however, his face grew softer. Solemn. Sirius didn’t much like where this expression was headed. “I still hurt you. Prongs said he couldn’t even stop me. I broke my own rule, and I can’t quite forgive myself for doing so. My biggest fears are hurting people and losing you, you know.”

     After a moment of processing, Sirius looked at Remus with a confused, oblivious expression. (He never let himself get too hopeful.) “What do you mean by that?” he asked gently, leaving the conversation in Remus’ hands.

     “I—I meant you as in all of you,” Remus stammered, a blush rising from his neck and allowing heat to crawl up his cheeks.

     “No, I don’t think you do.”

     “Padfoot, I—oh, sod it,” Remus said in defeat before he leaned forward, and—

      _Fuck._

    Remus Lupin’s lips were on his, and hell, was it magical. Too stunned to move at first, Sirius sat there like a statue, before realizing with a gasp that he was kissing Remus (!) and that he should probably do something about it. He tilted his head, opening his lips to Remus’ mouth, nearly giving himself over before pulling back in a snap of reality. “Why did you do that?” he demanded of Remus, looking at him incredulously.

     “Pads, you know why I did that,” insisted Remus. “Surely you can’t be that blind.”

     Sirius shook his head. “No, you’re having me on,” he said slowly. If Remus...no. Remus would’ve told him he was bent, he was sure of it. “James told you, he must have, is this some sort of joke to you?” But then again, they weren’t speaking for a while...

     “Sirius, do you even hear how ridiculous you sound right now?” snorted Remus. “James may be a plonker, but he’s loyal. No, I’m afraid I quite wanted to snog you, though I thought you may have noticed by now. Clearly, I was wrong.”

     If eyes could be the size of the moon, then Sirius’ were well on their way. By now he was sitting on the bed, looking across  at Remus, who had shifted into a sitting position. “You—what? This doesn’t make sense. You would’ve told me if you were bent, I know you would have.”

     “I was waiting for you to figure it out.”

     “Moony, you sly dog,” grinned Sirius, hardly able to think straight.

     “Enough talking, mutt. Don’t scare me like that again, alright? No more breaking the rule.”

     “No more breaking the rule,” agreed Sirius, leaning his face closer and closer to Remus’. “Now, do shut up.” 

**Author's Note:**

> this is for a request by lexi.p.27 on instagram! if you have any requests or just wanna see marauders related nonsense and chat, head over to my tumblr or instagram of the same name, moonyandthestar.


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